“All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree.” Albert Einstein Like many of you, I conduct a choral organization in a community with several other choral groups besides mine. And like you, I often wonder if members of my audience are also members of theirs. One of the lessons I’ve learned in […]
The Choral Life
Choral Potpourri: Choral Ethics; Say Something Nice
“Come, gentlemen, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness.” William Shakespeare As I plotted out the subject and theme for January’s Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics blogs, I had a certain expectation of what I would write for each installment. Today’s Try for my Try Method was inspired by a simple spontaneous remark I made to […]
Choral Potpourri: Let There Be Peace on Earth
“This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.” Leonard Bernstein Have you ever noticed the best holiday stories portray some sort of dream? From the ballet, “The Nutcracker” to all of the many incarnations of Dickens, “A Christmas Carol” someone is always sleeping and […]
Choral Potpourri: “……..and the tongue of the dumb shall sing.”
I love “Messiah”. Truth be told, it is probably my favorite large choral work. There’s a little something for everyone–from show piece arias to choruses that are both difficult and poignant to recitatives that move the story along while being musically interesting. The story that is told, using scriptures from both the Old and New […]
Choral Potpourri: Choral Ethics; Nice Things
“This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things!” “The Simpsons” As I began to write this blog to describe Monique’s * story, I had no clue how to finish it. It’s a bit of an unusual situation but I bet many of you have dealt with something similar. You may not have known you had […]
Choral Potpourri: Choral Ethics; Yet Another Choral Ethics “Thank you” Blog
“‘Thank you’ is the best prayer that anyone could say. I say that one a lot. Thank you expresses extreme gratitude, humility, understanding.” Alice Walker If you regularly read the newspaper or online versions of “Dear Abby” or “Miss Manners” or “Ask Amy”, you are certain to read a letter or two (or three or […]